Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 02] Read online

  “Why?”

  “You don’t need the particulars. Where is it?”

  “I am not giving you the key to her room without a damn good reason.”

  He jammed his hands in his pockets. “She somehow snuck out and stole a shit load of clothes. I want her to take them back.”

  “Are you serious?”

  He slanted his eyes. “Perfectly.”

  “We have bigger fish to fry right now, Dante.”

  He couldn’t believe what she was saying. “She stole from someone and you want me to let it go?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I can’t.”

  “And what are you planning on doing? Drag her to the cops?”

  “Take the clothes back.”

  Her brow lifted. “Dante, it’s just some clothes.”

  “She probably had five hundred dollars worth of stuff in her room.”

  “Wow. Okay, I’ll deal with it.”

  He didn’t like that idea at all. “I am more than ready to deal with it myself.”

  “Dante. I know you’re thinking with your cop brain, but think about what’s important right now. You think that shop keeper is even in town? And if he or she is, you think they’ve been to the shop recently? I doubt it. So they aren’t even going to know anyone stole from them.”

  “And that makes it alright?”

  “No, it doesn’t. I’m just saying in the grand scheme of things, that’s small potatoes. Get the sun back and you’ll be the city’s hero. No one will care if some clothes are missing. Now, go get some sleep. You look like hell.”

  She closed the door in his face and he stood there a moment with his jaw open. Then he spun around and stomped his way to his room. He was a man of the law. He upheld the law. He couldn’t just sit by while someone broke it.

  Okay, so he wasn’t going to hand her over to the cops, and not because she was a good lay. He couldn’t do it because she’d been through enough lately. She was still young, and impulsive. She just had to be taught that you can’t just take what you want whenever you want it. And if she wasn’t going to return the items, then maybe he would.

  Good idea!

  The only problem was, how was he going to get all the clothing and items out of her room without her knowing about it? Never mind returning them. Okay, so maybe he was thinking too much about this. Still, he had to uphold the law. Wasn’t that why he went out every day to protect the city from the blood sucking animals that were preying on the innocent?

  The sound of crashing glass shook him out of his thoughts. He threw his door open and darted out into the hall as Trinity and Basil flew from their room. “Where did it sound like it came from?”

  “Main floor, dining hall.” Basil vanished and, before Dante could say another word, Trinity followed.

  “Well, that’s just cheating.”

  “What’s going on?” Jonah asked, coming out into the hall.

  “My guess is more invaders. Stay up here and protect the women.”

  “Happy to.”

  Dante flew down the stairs to see Trinity and Basil with their hands full of vamps. Basil was fighting two and Trinity had three. Two more were heading his way. He could hear footsteps running up the cellar stairs and he prayed to God they came from one of their own. “We need back-up.” And he wished he’d brought his weapons with him.

  Looking around the room, for anything he could use, he saw the ornate table against the wall and leapt for it. Grateful he still wore his boots, he gave it a solid kick and splintered the thin wooden legs. He managed to kneel down and grabbed one just as he was attacked. The arm came around his neck in a massive choke hold. Gasping for breath, he clawed at the splinters on the floor and finally managed to grab one. Though he couldn’t see the man holding him, he could judge where his face was. Lifting his arm, he jabbed the wooden splinter over his shoulder and right into the guy’s face. He could only hope it was an eye.

  With the way he was screaming, Dante figured he hit his mark. The instant he was released, Dante spun around and sent the vamp to dusty land. He stood, ready to take on another one only to see Trinity hold her hand up and yell freeze.

  Only problem was, she didn’t just freeze the vamps. He had enough thought to know he wasn’t in control of his body any more, but that was it. Oh, and he was sure he was drooling.

  “Damn it! Move!” She chanted and Dante nearly fell flat on his face. “Sorry. I’m still trying to figure all these powers out.”

  “Practicing on the prisoners might be a good idea, love,” Basil advised as he fought his assailant. “Screw capture. Take them out!”

  “You got it, boss.” More than happy to do a little jab and dust, Dante positioned the wooden leg and ran into the crowd Basil was fighting with. By the time they were done, they were all a little bloody from the fight, and covered in vampire dust. “Okay, explain to me why you guys disintegrate?” Dante asked while dusting himself off.

  “You want the long or short version?” Basil picked up the table Dante had smashed. “This was a priceless heirloom.”

  “And it worked well. Short version.”

  “In humans, vampire blood is like a virus. It infects your blood, eating and destroying all the good cells that used to belong to you as a human. Where does your blood go as it runs through your veins? The heart. When the heart is pierced and stopped, the blood stops flowing and attacks the body causing the cells to explode and essentially burns it up from inside out.”

  Dante dropped his chin and stared at Basil in disbelief. “First, that was the short version? Second, you’re kidding me?”

  Basil shrugged. “I speak the truth. That’s why in order to kill one of my kind, you need to stab it in the heart. Stop the blood flow.”

  “Shit!” Dante rubbed his chin in thought. He was learning something new every day. “So why do you have to drink blood? I never got that?”

  “Human blood has everything a vampire’s doesn’t but did at one time. Your blood consists of hemoglobin, which is the protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs, which in turn sends it to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. The iron in hemoglobin is what makes your blood red and the whole reason why vampire’s blood is a sickly gray. Because at one time your body as a human consisted of hemoglobins, it now craves it as a vampire. And the more a vampire drinks, the stronger he or she will feel.”

  “Man, it all makes sense now. So actually, it’s not an animalistic thing but more of necessity.”

  “Right on the nose. Vampires need blood to survive because at one time, it was what made them survive.”

  “What about a transfusion? Could that cure a vampire?”

  Basil shook his head. “No, because as fast as the blood would come into the body, the vampire virus would eat it up. There is no cure for vampirism.”

  “This has been entertaining, but we need to figure out something to stop Chaos’ men from constantly breaking in here.”

  “Her Majesty is right.” Basil ducked out of the line of fire before Trinity could deck him. “We need Jonah to rig some sort of alarm system for this place. And the sooner the better. I’ll contact Gage and see how soon they’ll be back with the supplies.”

  “I’ll go let Jonah know it’s safe to come out of hiding,” Dante said as he sauntered from the room.

  “Hey! What about helping me clean up this mess?” Trinity yelled at them.

  “That’s women’s work.” The next thing he knew she was in front of him and her fist was slamming into his gut. Dante buckled over, coughing, and watched as her feet stomped up the steps.

  Clutching his belly, he couldn’t help but smirk.

  ***

  Dante was dosing off and drifting into a dream when he felt the bed give beside him
. In his daze, he ignored it. Until he felt someone on his chest. Opening his eyes, he saw Gypsy over top of him, looking down on him. His first thought was, “Shit, she’s going to bite me and get even for earlier.” In a quick move, he grabbed her arms and flipped her over onto her back and pinned her to the bed.

  “You were going to bite me.”

  “I was not!”

  “Then why were you on top of me while I was asleep?”

  “Well, duh, dummy. I was going to have sex with you.”

  He paused in thought. “I thought you were mad at me?”

  “Well, I was, but I figured one way to get you to come to your senses and not hand me over to the cops was to fuck your brains out.”

  Was she for real? “You think I’ll give up on making you return those clothes because you fucked me?”

  “It worked when I got a speeding ticket once.”

  His jaw dropped. “You had sex to get out of a ticket?”

  “Sure.”

  His jaw dropped a little further.

  “If only it had worked last week, but no, that cop had to be by the book.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Crap. You weren’t supposed to know that.”

  He sat back on the bed as she sat up. “Know what?”

  “Well, like I’m going to tell you now. Shit. I gotta boogie.”

  He grabbed her arm before she could dart off the bed. And that was when he noticed she was still wearing the see-through nightie. “Not until we discuss this further.”

  “I am not discussing anything if it means you’re carting me off to jail. I will not go back there again.”

  “Again?”

  “Yeah, again. Back off, Dante.”

  She unsheathed her teeth and it was the first time since that moment in his apartment that he’d seen her vamp come out. “Let’s call a truce for the moment and just talk this out like rational adults.”

  “Promise me you won’t take me to jail?”

  We have bigger fish to fry right now, Dante. Trinity’s words came back to haunt him. “All I want to do is talk.”

  “Fine.” She sat back down but continued to scowl at him.

  He relaxed at the foot of the bed. “Why don’t you tell me why you were in jail?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I was arrested for breaking and entering, and robbery.”

  “Of?”

  Her yellow eyes narrowed. “A clothing shop.”

  He slapped a hand on his face. This hadn’t been her first time. “Have you ever been arrested before?”

  “No.”

  He removed his hand to stare at her. “Please don’t tell me you had sex to get out of it?”

  “No, I was just never caught.” She held her hand up when his mouth opened. “You wanna start on me, let me tell you how hard it is out there for someone my age who doesn’t have an education or job or a family. I was raised in one foster home after another. My life wasn’t easy.”

  “And that’s supposed to excuse it. Come on, Gypsy. There are plenty of people in the world that had a hard upbringing but they manage to make something of themselves.”

  “I don’t need a lecture,” she snarled and again the fangs came out.

  “Fine, no lecture, but I will say this, I am going to help you turn yourself around.”

  “Are you now?” It was said sarcastically.

  “Yes I am. And from now on, no more stealing.”

  “Are you going to make me return all my stuff?”

  He chewed on it a while. “No, but only because there would be no point. The city is beginning to be evacuated. But no more, got it?”

  She saluted him, dryly. “Yes, sir.”

  “You’re young, Gypsy. There’s still time to make something of yourself.”

  “My hero,” she said as she slinked her way towards him. “Did you know your lip is bleeding?”

  He touched a finger to his lip and felt the sting. “Yeah, got it from a couple of vamps that broke in. We’re taking turns patrolling the house tonight. What are you doing?” She took his hand in hers, then lifted his finger and stuck it in her mouth. It was an erotic motion of sucking that went right to his dick.

  “I like the way you taste,” she said, licking the tip of his finger. “Familiar.”

  “You’re talking about my blood?”

  “Yeah.” She looked into his eyes now. “You worry that I might bite you and make you into a vampire?”

  “Well, yeah.” He could easily admit that.

  “I wouldn’t,” she promised, climbing right onto his lap. “I’ve already told you that.”

  “Yeah, but the way you look at me sometimes, and when you do stuff like that, licking my blood, it makes me worry.”

  “I promise I will never bite you.” She kissed him and he felt her sucking on his bottom lip.

  And then she began to gyrate against his already growing hard-on. He was damn glad he liked to sleep in the nude. She straddled him and took him inside. The instant her soft, silky lips wrapped around his shaft he was a goner. She kissed him deeply, sucking on his lip, licking it with her tongue. The pain was somewhat erotic.

  He wanted to latch onto her breasts in the worst way, but every time he tried to pull away, she sucked a little harder. And the more she sucked, the faster she moved over top of him.

  “Holy hell!” she cried out, finally releasing his mouth. She had blood on her lips. His blood. She threw her head back as she worked her hips back and forth over him. And he was finally able to take her breasts as he’d wanted.

  “I can feel it, inside of me. Oh wow, it’s like…like…euphoria. I’m coming, yes, yes, yes.”

  She bucked over him so hard he had to brace himself to prevent them from falling off the bed. Then he felt it. She clamped onto him with a vise like grip and began pumping him from inside. With each contraction of her orgasm, she sucked him in and it was the most incredible thing he had ever felt. “Sweet fuck.” He grabbed her hips and pressed her down onto the bed. He needed leverage as he came and knew when he was done he wouldn’t have an ounce of energy left in him to hold them both up.

  Then he just let himself go.

  “Yes, more, more, more.” She pulled his head down and took his mouth in a hard possessive kiss.

  She sucked him dry on so many levels.

  Collapsing over her, he panted as the final drops spilled from him into her.

  “I think your blood is an aphrodisiac for me.”

  “Okay.” Was all he managed then drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Nine

  They’d received the shipment of electronic equipment Basil had ordered and had his men pick up. Now all they needed was for Jonah to work his magic and hook the house up to an alarm system that would not only alert them of someone on the premises, but if they attempted to access any entry, would receive a very nasty jolt. Dante didn’t know what Jonah was doing, computers were an absolute mystery to him, but the guy seemed to understand what he was doing.

  They’d set everything up in the study and computer parts and electronics were strewn about the room. It actually reminded Dante of Jonah’s computer shop after Basil had taken his hissy fit when Trinity had been killed by the king.

  “How long do you think this will take?”

  Jonah didn’t bother to look over his shoulder at Basil but kept working as he responded. “Longer if you keep watching me like this.”

  Basil huffed, folding his arms against his chest, and began to pace. “You’ve been at it for five hours already.”

  “You know what, Basil?” Jonah pushed from his chair and stood up. He was obviously pissed. “You think you can do this faster? By all means, have at it.”

  “Both of you calm down,” Trinity interjected fro
m her spot across the room, working on her computer. “Before I bash your heads in.”

  “Her Majesty has spoken.” Dante shriveled back when Trinity sent him a seething glare. Why she hated being called that was beyond him. “I gotta ask, man, because it’s been nagging me since we started all this. How the hell do you make your money? You don’t have a job, yet you live in a castle, have endless amounts of money, especially for this kind of equipment.”

  Basil scowled at Jonah as he replied to Dante. “Investments.”

  “Okay, but how do you get the money to invest?”

  “I’ve been around for centuries. You think I started out rich? Hell no. I worked my way up. Yes, in my youth I stole money and I used my gifts to attain money, but I managed to invest a great deal of it. I’ve bought properties over the years, invested in companies and I’ve gained and I’ve lost. But it’s been centuries in the making. And why are you just sitting there, Jonah? Work!”

  “I swear, Basil, if you don’t back off I’ll send you to dusty land,” Jonah warned in a quiet yet no less deadly tone.

  “Yeah, I would like to see you try.”

  Jonah stood and that was when Dante decided it was best if he distracted Basil and got him out of the room. “I have a problem that only you can help me with, Basil. Can I have a minute with you?”

  “A minute,” he grumbled as he left with Dante. “What?”

  Dante closed the study door both to keep Basil from glancing inside and worrying and from anyone hearing what he was about to say. “What happens to a vampire if they drink someone’s blood while having sex?”

  Basil’s brow lifted as he leaned his back against the wall. “I still smell human in you so she didn’t turn you. Tell me what happened.”

  Dante glanced down the hallway, making sure no one was lurking about. “Last night, she tasted the blood from my lip and it did something to her. She said it was like my blood was an aphrodisiac and her orgasm was way beyond extraordinary. I have never felt a woman’s pussy contract like that before.”